1988 Chaparral 187XL

June 17th, 2002, 10:46 AM

I was wondering how I could find out some specifications on the boat I just purchased. The size of the fuel tank (gas gauge doesn't work), home many gallons per hour I should get with a 4.3L mercrusier, oil to use, etc.The gas gauge works when removing the sending wire and attaching either 12V or Ground. It is something with the sending unit or the ground wire. The gauge reads empty.Thanks for you help.

Comment

If your problem is the gas gauge you will find they are fairly universal.

You have done the first part of the diagnosis by connecting the sending wire to 12v and ground. The problem is probably in the sender. With the sender wire connected to the sender do you get 12v, 0v, or some fixed value in between?

Check the ground wire on the sender. Is the case at 0V? If not, your problem is there.

The sender can be removed fairly easily. If you have an ohm meter measure the resistance as you move the float up and down. Does it go down and up? If you reconnect to the gauge (and ground the case with a jumper) does the gauge work? If so, maybe the float doesn't.